Mills for processing animal feed rations are commonly available in two types, roller mills and hammer mills. Roller mills are generally used for processing feed rations for bovine animals and horses, which are sensitive to dust and fines in their ration. Roller mills process animal feed grains by crushing the grains between two or more opposing rollers. Hammer mills are generally used for the preparation of chicken and swine feed rations since these animals digest finely ground rations more readily and they are less sensitive to dust and fines in their rations. Hammer mills process animal feed grains by grinding with a plurality of centrifugal flails or hammers.
Both types of animal feed ration processing mills have been in use for many years. Traditionally, the ingredients of animal feed rations were ground or rolled sequentially and conveyed or blown into a mixing apparatus where they were mixed with supplements or other prepared ration ingredients. The disadvantage of this traditional method is that considerable time and energy are consumed in producing a properly mixed ration.
In order to improve the efficiency of animal feed ration preparation, automated apparatus were invented to deliver several ration ingredients simultaneously in proportioned amounts to the input orifice of feed ration processing mills. These apparatus are commonly called proportioners and they are also well known in the art.
Proportioners permit ration mixing within a processing mill, eliminating the need for an auxiliary mixer. Since proportioners feed ration ingredients simultaneously into a mill, each in its correct proportion, mixing is accomplished during the required processing of the ration ingredients.
Although proportioner attachments for ration processing mills have proven to be a significant advance over the traditional milling and mixing method, the determination of accurate proportioner control settings for producing a tailored ration is a difficult and time consuming task. Proportioner control settings are preferably calculated using ration ingredient analyses and ration composition formulas obtainable from agricultural research facilities. Manually calculated proportioner control settings may be accurate but are difficult to verify. Although a processed ration may be sent to a laboratory for a verification analysis, repeated analyses may be required to achieve a desired ration.
With the ever increasing competition in farm products and the resulting thinner margins in farm profits, farmers have found it necessary to operate their animal feed programs with a maximum of achievable efficiency. Since animal feed accounts for approximately 80% of a producers total variable cost, it is essential that feed rations be tailored as closely as possible to their most efficient composition. It is well known that feeding extra protein, for instance, while increasing the cost of a ration provides no benefit to the animals fed. On the other hand, feeding too little protein may create both health and weight gain problems in animals. Variations of as little as 1% in the protein content of animal feed rations can be critical and can account for significant savings or losses for a producer over an extended period of time.
There therefore exists a need for a computerized monitoring system for proportioner equipped animal ration processing mills to assist producers in achieving improved efficiency in their animal feeding programs.
French patent application 792,342 describes a roller type mill having two overhead compartments for delivering ration ingredients to the mill's rollers. Each compartment is emptied independently into a paddle wheel shaped weight estimating apparatus which is monitored by an electrical or mechanical comparator for tracking the approximate weight of the ingredient processed from a compartment. When a given weight is processed from one compartment, that compartment is closed and the other compartment is opened to process a second ration ingredient in the same manner. These steps are repeated until each ingredient of a ration has been processed. As this apparatus does not supply ration ingredients simultaneously, an auxiliary mixer is required to produce a mixed ration. The apparatus does not track inventories, measure ingredients with precise accuracy, or provide an analysis for a processed ration.